Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Chaos at the frontier

GIBRALTAR (GibChronicle) Cyclists and people on motorbikes have faced queues of up to two hours this week, crammed tight in four-deep lanes and forced to breathe heavy exhaust fumes as they waited for their turn to cross. The delays were prompted by Guardia Civil officers conducting meticulous searches for contraband cigarettes. One official in Gibraltar said the Guardia Civil plan to keep up the intense checks for the rest of the month, though this could not be independently confirmed. Cyclists were particularly angry at the development.>>>
“I ride a bicycle but still I am forced to sit in a cloud of moped and motorbike fumes which pollute the environment at a far worse level than they should thanks to the delays,” said one reader who wrote to The Gibraltar Chronicle.

“And while the Guardia may stop and search mopeds and bikes from time to time, they never stop bicycles as even they can’t claim to suspect us cyclists of hiding packets of cigarettes in our little tyres.”

He asked for a separate channel for people on bicycles.

A Spanish official said they had no information on the reason for the checks but insisted they were not politically motivated.

However, although the queues were evident for some time, they intensified this week in the run-up to an official visit by Chief Minister Peter Caruana to La Linea yesterday.